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So is Kevin Lowe’s and Steve Tambellini’s. But their big picture is surrounded by smaller pictures, like trade deadlines, waiver wires and decisions with one eye on today and another on tomorrow.

While MacTavish becomes the third man in on much of that, his new job as senior vice-president of hockey operations of the Edmonton Oilers is the really, really big picture.

And as Edmonton fans ride the roller coaster of a compact 48-game, lockout-shortened season watching a team with an actual chance to make the playoffs for the first time since the Oilers went to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final, the season after the last lockout, maybe it’s time to look at what’s going on here through his eyes.

MacTavish wasn’t sure what this was going to be like away from the action. After 17 years as an NHL player — eight of them, including three Stanley Cups, with the Oilers and another ring with the Rangers — he had a dozen-year career as a coach, spending eight of those years putting together a 301-252-103 record over eight seasons with the Oilers.

“The closest feeling you can get to being a player is coaching. It’s definitely easier playing. In some situations as a player, you can get satisfaction out of playing well, even when you lose. But as a coach you have an unfair responsibility for everything and you don’t get that. I haven’t missed the countless problems on a daily basis.”

MacTavish sounds almost surprised to the extent he hasn’t missed being behind the bench in his new job, after finishing his coaching career in the AHL with the Chicago Wolves.

“I’ve enjoyed this. It’s a less stressful role, that’s for sure. I haven’t entirely missed the coaching. I’d been doing it long enough. I’m certainly a lot more respectful of the rigors of the job now that I’m out of it, than when I was in it. When I go down from the press box and see coaches at the end of a game day, I can see the strain they’ve gone through.”

He’s gone out of his way to keep his distance.

“I’ve purposefully stayed away from our team. There are enough eyes on our team without adding another pair and I know how much I enjoyed having a bunch of management guys around when I was coaching.”

That’s not to say he isn’t watching.

“My day-to-day stuff has been to keep a handle on the top 60 draft eligible players, tracking the kids we’ve drafted and seeing what their development is and where they fit in, as well as keeping an eye on free agents in the CHL and NCAA. Even during the lockout I had plenty to do.

“I’ve taken trips to Finland, Sweden and the Czech Republic and Slovakia and I’ve been following our farm teams, of course. I’ll be in Austin, Texas, this weekend to watch Oklahoma City play two games. It’s all big-picture stuff.”

MacTavish says he finds it a total twist from where the team is now from when he coached prior to the 30th-, 30th- and 29th-place seasons and the three trips to the draft picking No. 1 overall.

“When I left, we were missing the big pieces. We had the periphery players taken care of. Now we have the franchise players who can play here for the next 10 or 15 years. We certainly have four or five of those guys. Now we’re more focused on finding the periphery players.

“Because I wasn’t here last year, the biggest surprise for me was how good our goaltending has been. That was a real question mark for me coming in, having not seen the way Devan Dubnyk developed during the second half of the season. Instead of being an issue, goaltending has become a strength.

“I see a lot of positives. We’re not looking for the big parts so much as we’re looking for smaller parts.

“It’s a one-goal league for us now and we’re a goal away. We need another goal. But it’s a real positive when the kids on our top line can match up against any top line in the league and dominate like they did Tuesday night against Dallas. I really thought they dominated the game.

“I think it’s an exciting time. There’s always some angst for the fans and development seldom follows a straight line. There are ups and downs. But it’s trending in the right direction. An organization can never outrun expectations.

“To get to the point where we’re at right now does not come without a lot of pain and suffering. But I don’t expect a lot more of that.”

Oilers vice-president of hockey operations, Craig MacTavish, says pain and suffering of rebuild almost over

So is Kevin Lowe’s and Steve Tambellini’s. But their big picture is surrounded by smaller pictures, like trade deadlines, waiver wires and decisions with one eye on today and another on tomorrow.

While MacTavish becomes the third man in on much of that, his new job as senior vice-president of hockey operations of the Edmonton Oilers is the really, really big picture.

And as Edmonton fans ride the roller coaster of a compact 48-game, lockout-shortened season watching a team with an actual chance to make the playoffs for the first time since the Oilers went to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final, the season after the last lockout, maybe it’s time to look at what’s going on here through his eyes.

MacTavish wasn’t sure what this was going to be like away from the action. After 17 years as an NHL player — eight of them, including three Stanley Cups, with the Oilers and another ring with the Rangers — he had a dozen-year career as

They didn’t roll out a red carpet from the dressing room door to the field and line up to toss rose petals at him as he jogged out to practice. But it would have been an appropriate photo-op. Aaron Grymes showed up as something of a gift from the football gods, a champion and an all-star to join one of the most decimated units in CFL history.